Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | Robert Mealy

Once again, the BEMF brings a Baroque opera back to life. Reinhard Keiser’s 1705 Octavia is exceptionally well sung, adroitly staged, designed and danced, with impeccable musicianship.

In each brief and catchy excerpt, the ensemble played with infectious vitality and admirable precision.

The Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra led by Robert Mealy, with soprano Emőke Baráth and dancers Caroline Copeland and Pierre-François Dollé, showcase Rameau's vitality and originality.

In a season over-crowded with holiday concerts, Handel’s Messiah is performed all over Manhattan. But there is no better place to hear this Christmas favorite than Trinity Church, a church dating back to 1696 with a deep history in New York and home to the work's New World premiere in 1770.